The present invention relates generally to sound reproducing systems, and in particular to a system for localizing sonic images in desired areas using two loudspeakers located in front of a listener.
In conventional multi-channel sound reproduction systems sonic images appear to originate in the area between two loudspeakers located in front of the listener. In stereophonic systems in which the signals carries information as to the direction and distance of sounds or sonic images with respect to the listener, the sonic images are localized so that they are made to appear to originate from a point determined by the information carried by the input stereophonic signals. Monophonic signals which carries no localization information can also be localized when applied to two loudspeakers at a desired position by varying the relative amplitude of the signals applied to the speakers to the other. However, the localized images are restricted to the area between the two speakers so that the listener hears sounds at the same distance, that is, the distance between the speakers and the listener. It is therefore desirable to localize sound at any point around the listener and to make the localized image move continuously in the sound reproduction field in response to a manual control regardless of whether the input audio signal is stereophonic or monophonic.